Financial Players Continue to Tie Up with Ripple in Q2 2018

Through the first quarter of 2018 Ripple (XRP) had already joined hands with financial giants like SBI Holdings, Fleetcor, Woori Bank and several other organizations.

What is the reason that behind so many companies, especially banks looking forward to partner up with Ripple? Is it just because of the fact that Ripple blends blockchain technology with centralization model? There is actually a host of reasons that make these companies seek out the Ripple network to accommodate the ‘new’ technology. For instance, the Cobalt algorithm minimalizes the cross-border transaction speed to approximately 1 second. It also prevents the occurrence of any stoppage in the transactions. Ripple’s partnership with Hyperledger has given access to the developers to the Interledger Protocol or ILP and has opened up a world of possibilities.

 xVia API solution

At the end of April 2018, Ripple had acquired 5 major customers for its xVia API solution. FairFX (U.K.), Exchange 4Free (U.K.), RationalFX (U.K.), UniPay (Georgia), and MoneyMatch (Malaysia) will now be able to better access the surging global payments market. Through xVia, the financial institutions can easily transfer funds to and from the incipient markets by using RippleNet. The system is much faster and secure and involves minimal transaction costs. The businesses and financial institutions taking the help of xVia can send payments ton digital wallets, payment providers and so on directly, eliminating the need for custom connections. The small businesses will also benefit from the xVia API solution.

According to the Senior Vice President of Product at Ripple, customers who want to access global payment markets usually face high costs and time-related issues of building links to networks and banks all over the world. The xVia API solution was aimed to solve these issues. Now, the payment originators will also have access to a single standard connection that reduces the high failure rates, often observed in case of traditional wire transfers. The manual reconciliation expenses are also deducted to a certain extent by RippleNet.

The chief commercial officer of FairFX, James Hickman revealed their reason for choosing Ripple and xVia. FairFX will be able to reach out more people in a much shorter time and at minimal costs. The system will also become more transparent and efficient that will attract more customers. Similarly, Chris Humphrey, CEO of RationalFX, eagerly awaits the incorporation of xVia globally.

Standard Chartered and RippleNet

Standard Chartered is not new to the features and applications of RippleNet. The network is becoming increasingly popular among the banks due to their cross-border payment solutions. In fact, it seems that Standard Chartered will be introducing this technology to five countries within 2019. The plan is to spread the word of RippleNet across Asia. Currently, Standard Chartered uses RippleNet to send payments to India. Adding on more countries at this crucial juncture of change in the financial system is more likely to reap more benefits for both XRP and the financial institutions. However, Standard Chartered has not yet revealed the names of the countries it wants to incorporate. RippleNet will gain more customers due to its focus on transparency, lower fees, and instant settlement solutions.

“The successful launch of our commercial cross-border payment service marks a significant milestone in the financial industry’s progress in applying distributed ledger technology for corporates. We are incredibly proud to be leading the way in this area. This affirms our commitment to digitization and innovation as we continuously look at the new way”.

• An employee of Standard Chartered

BankDhofar and RippleNet

The first Oman bank to join RippleNet, rather the global blockchain network is BankDhofar. Like Standard Chartered, BankDhofar was attracted by the opportunity of sending payments overseas within just a few seconds through a completely transparent system. Prior to BankDhofar, above 120 financial institutions had partnered up with RippleNet to integrate blockchain technology into their system. According to the official press release, “This initiative is part of BankDhofar’s continuous transformation plan, which is putting digital technology and innovation at the core of its strategy to improve the experience of its customers.”

Price Analysis of Ripple (XRP)

At the time of writing, according to coinmarketcap.com, the price of Ripple shows approximately $0.78 USD (-6.78%). The market cap continues to stay above $30 billion USD and the volume (24h) is above $550 million USD. (As of 9^th May 2018) The blame for the slight drop in price can be given to the usual volatility of the cryptocurrency markets and even on the after-effects of the bearish trend of Q1. It is noteworthy that Ripple (XRP) has moved on to the 3^rd position in the coinmarketcap.com rankings. The partnerships with renowned financial institutions and the continuous efforts put by the development team to ensure faster and smoother cross-border transactions will surely loft the crypto-coin to higher places.

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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Global Coin Report and/or its affiliates, employees, writers, and subcontractors are cryptocurrency investors and from time to time may or may not have holdings in some of the coins or tokens they cover. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency and read our full disclaimer.

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